A $ 2.2 billion railway project is in full swing



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Work on the $ 2.2 billion Eastern Railroad line is expected to begin soon, DGN Online can confirm.

Investors from the Ghana-European Railway Consortium said they were ready to start work as soon as Parliament and Cabinet approved the deal.

This was brought to light when launching the negotiation of a concession agreement for the standard Eastern template.

The government must take a minority share of the transaction.

The project is expected to include 24 pbadenger trains and six freight cars at the completion of the 340 kilometers of construction.

The line connects Tema, Accra and Kumasi and is expected to boost economic activities, especially in Boankra's inland ports once completed.

According to DGN Online, the construction process is expected to last three years and the consortium "hopes that the project will be a fine example of a German-Ghanaian company, with the consortium of European-Ghanaian railways that sincerely undertakes the project.

There will be six main stations, 34 sub-stations on the track which is a double line, the Consortium hoping to recover its investment in the 27 years following the three years of construction.

Railway Development Minister Joe Ghartey said the project was a construction, operation and transfer (BOT) contract and that the concession would be granted for a number of years.

He stated that "the railway they are trying to build is a modern railroad. "

According to him, "I am firmly convinced that the railway sector will transform our country in a way that we and you have not yet envisioned."

Approval

The delighted minister indicated that the outcome of the negotiation would be forwarded to Cabinet for approval and then to Parliament.

Consortium member Heinz Kroczek described the project as "a nation-building project".

During the construction phase, he said that nearly 5,000 jobs would be created.

3000 additional jobs should be created.

In addition to the 8,000 construction and subsequent jobs, an additional 540 jobs are to be created through the creation of a rail slipper factory that is expected to produce 1,000 slippers per day.

Ghanaians, he noted, would be trained in Germany as part of the deal.

L & # 39; s history

The last train trip between Kumasi and Accra dates back to 2001.

The East Line and the entire railway sector were dormant until the arrival of the government of the new Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2017.

In his third speech on the state of the nation, February 21, 2019, President Akufo-Addo announced that a total of $ 1 billion had been earmarked for the development of the sector. the Kumasi-Paga stretch.

The Minister of Planning, Professor Gyan Baffour, explained that the government's objective was to reorganize the railway sector in the country.

He said that a strengthened and integrated transport network was essential for economic transformation and mobility.

— Daily guide

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